Pouring golden with bright white foam, Terlingua Gold offers some grassy, floral hop aromas with a hint of stone fruit. We found the malt core gained a bit of a toasty bread character as the beer warms. On the palate, look for that nice core of pale and light crystal malt to come through fairly robust with some pleasant crackery notes. We found the malts were superbly countered by a moderate level of clean Magnum hop bitterness and a touch of Cascade zestiness, which, in concert with a slightly elevated ABV that keeps it crisp and light on its feet, leads to an incredibly refreshing brew that finishes dry – begging you for another sip. We’re big fans of its crisp, refreshing, and cleanly hopped character, which reminded us of some of the very best German Kölsch. What a perfect beer for the hot and dry West Texas climate. The brewery recommends pairing with fish, poultry, pork, greens, and spiced foods, to which we’d add grilled hot dogs or brats with spicy mustard. Cheers!

Big Bend Brewing Company (Alpine, TX)

Big Bend Brewing Company was founded in November of 2012 in a most unlikely place: the rugged, mountainous, and wind-swept region of West Texas known as Brewster County. Home to a population less than 9,300 despite an area larger than Connecticut, the county includes the town of Alpine, which is about 150 miles away from the nearest city. The brewery’s founders, including brewmaster Steve Anderson, saw Alpine and the rest of the relatively untouched West Texas region as much more of an opportunity for their new brewing enterprise than other areas of Texas, such as the craft beer saturated capital of Austin.

Steve Anderson and his brewing team are focused on bringing an old-world brewing style to their beer, maintaining the philosophy of keeping most of their beer unfiltered and naturally carbonated. Anderson is considered by many to be a sort of godfather of Texas brewing, having co-founded Texas’s first brewpub, Waterloo Brewing Company in Austin in 1993, and he spent about 10 years afterwards as brewmaster for Austin’s Live Oak Brewing Company. Anderson guided Big Bend to 800 barrels of production in their first year, but a limited amount of space and equipment meant they were constantly running out of beer to sell. With demand so unexpectedly strong, they were forced to immediately expand their facility by 6,500 sq. ft. to provide up to eight times the capacity. Their beers have found a ready market in both the locals as well as the increasing numbers of tourists to West Texas (including visitors to Big Bend National Park, where stores sell 6-packs of their beers), and demand has been strong all the way to the Mexican border, including draft accounts in El Paso – a city not previously known for its interest in craft beer (but that seems to be changing).

Big Bend currently cans five year round brews. For more info on the beers, or brewery tours, give ‘em a ring at 432-837-3700 or visit www.bigbendbrewing.com.

Unmatched Variety by style, brewery & country

Choose from Five different Beer Clubs offering unmatched variety by brewery,
country of origin, and beer style to suit your specific tastes.